Regulator of timepiece



Feb. 25, 1969 MUNETAK'A TAMARU 3,429,119

REGULATOR OF TIMEPIECE Filed May a. 1967 United States Patent 41/ 43,696/ 66 US. Cl. 58-113 6 Claims Int. Cl. G04b 7/14 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A regulator of timepiece provided with a regulator pin which is positioned within an elongated interruption of circumferential recess formed in a ring part of a stud holder, in order to reduce the overall dimension of the regulator.

This invention relates to improvements in and relating to a regulator of timepiece.

Conventional regulator mechanisms for use with smaller size timepieces are generally reduced size reproductions of regular one adapted for use with larger size timepieces. From the practical point of view relative to the workmanship and strength requirements, this kind of manufacturing process places a substantial limitation for practising this producing manner.

Two rotatably adjusting members constituting the main parts of the regulator mechanism are provided around the casing of any suitable shockproof device for balance wheel shaft such as known as Ineablock. One of the difficulties for attaining the desired reduced and small regulator mechanism arises from such a fact that the shockproof device can not be reduced in its size further beyond a certain predetermined smallest standardized overall dimension on account of its inherent specific inside mechanical details, on the one hand. The circular ring portion of the stud holder provided for the hairspring and arranged to surround the shockproof device is also limited to reduce its dimensions especially beyond a necessary minimum wall thickness for attaining the resilient performance, on the other hand. Among others, it is a conventional technique that the regulator pin adapted for adjusting the effective length of hairspring is positioned outside of the ring portion of the regulator. This mode of provision of the regulator pin prevents the desired dimensional reduction of the regulator from being attained with success. These requirements have prevented to reduce the overall dimension of the regulator mechanism beyond a specific minimum which fact leads to considerable difficulty in the realization and mass production of smallest timepieces, especially those for womens use.

It is therefore to provide a highly improved regulator mechanism substantially reducing the aforementioned conventional drawbacks of the above kind.

For attaining the aforementioned object, the invention starts from such a regulator mechanism for timepiece, comprising a balance wheel, a stationary balance bridge, a resilient casing containing therein a shockproof mechanism for the shaft of said balance wheel, a regulator mounted rotatably around said casing and mounting fixedly thereon a regulator pin adopted for adjusting the effective length of the hairspring of said balance wheel and a stud holder mounted again rotatably around said casing, and is characterized by that said regulator pin is positioned at least partially within the peripheral configuration of said stud holder.

It is preferable to fit a manipulating projection extending outwardly from the peripheral surface of said stud holder and made integral therewith, said projection being arranged substantially in symmetry with the said regulator pin about a diametral axis of the stud holder which Passes the center of the stud on the latter, for pro viding a possibility to rotatably and finely adjust the stud holder relative to the regulator, advantageously with sub stantially equal turning effort regardless of the adjusting or turning direction.

These and further objects, features and advantages of the present invention will appear more clearly when read the following detailed description of the invention by reference to the accompanying drawing illustrative of two preferred embodiments of the invention shown by way of example.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of the first embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along a section line IIOII in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a similar view of FIG. 1, yet showing a second embodiment of the invention.

Now referring to the drawing, numeral 11 represents a balance bridge, only shown partially, which is fixedly mounted by a set screw at 10 and a pair of two tongueand-groove positioning means, not shown, on a conventional lower plate 9 which is shown only partly and formed with tapped hole 9a for receiving said screw 10 as shown. The balance bridge 11 is formed with a stepped opening 12 cut therethrough, for receiving the elastic casing, at 14, of a conventional shockproof mechanism. For this purpose, the casing 14 is press-fit to the opening 12, the circular shoulder or stepped portion of which is shown at 13. There is a projection piece 15 fitted with a conventional fixing stud 18 for fixingly receiving the outer end of hairspring 27 of balance wheel 30. Projection piece 15 is formed integrally with a ring 16 which is provided with an elongate and peripheral interruption 17 and mounted on said circular shoulder 13. Said projecting piece 15 and ring 16 constitute in combination a stud holder 19 which is rotatably mounted around the eas- Numeral 21 denotes a regulator which comprises a ing 14. ring 22 and a manipulating arm 23 made integral therewith, said ring 22 being formed with a small, interruption or gap 26 arranged to cooperate with an indicating scale 31 which is formed on balance bridge 11. This scale 31 has a plurality of graduations or divisions, each of which corresponds to 3 minutes per day to be adjusted by means of the regulator. The regulator 21 is movably mounted concentrically around said casing 14 and on the shoulder 13.

2.4 denotes a regulator pin press-fit to the manipulating or turning arm 23 and has a depending tip 24a which is kept in contact with the outermost convolution of hair spring 27 from inside. Regulator pin 24 is positioned within the outer peripheral configuration of the stud holder, especially as seen from FIG. 1 or 3. Since the regulator 21 is adjustable around the casing 14, the distance between the stud 18 and regulator pin 24 is also adjustable, so as to modify the effective length of the hairspring.

In close proximity to regulator pin 24, there is an adjustable positioner 25 which is mounted turn ably on the turning arm 23 and formed with a radially extending projection 25a adapted for positioning the related part of the hairspring in its working position as shown and in cooperation with regulator pin 24 when the positioner 25 is kept in its working position shown in FIG. 2. Positioner 25 is formed with a groove 25b which is adapted for receiving a screwdriver, not shown, for turning the positioner, as will be later described.

Numeral 29 denotes a screw for positioning the spring stud 18 in its working position shown in FIGS. 1, 2. and 3.

Lower ring 16 is formed with a projection 20 as shown in FIG. 1, the purpose of which will be later described.

In order to accelerate the oscillating frequency of the balance wheel 30, the user must turn the regulator 21 in the counter clockwise direction in FIG. 1 by exerting a turning torque upon the turning arm 23 by his fingers end, so as to bring the indicator gap 26 towards the mark F on the scale 31, as conventionally for shortening the efiective length of spiral spring 27. Conversely, when it is desired to retard the oscillating frequency of the balance Wheel 30, the user must exert a turning torque in the clockwise direction in FIG. 1 on the turning arm 23 by his fingers end.

On the other hand, when it is desired to adjust an offset oscillating centre of the upper end of the balance wheel shaft at 30a, the stud holder 19 is rotated in the clockwise or alternatively in the counter clockwise direction in FIG. 1.

According to my experiments, the turning torque necessary for rotational adjustment of the stud holder is different according to the rotational direction, when the projection is utilized as its manipulating means. For instance, when the stud holder is rotated in the counterclockwise direction, a larger turning torque is required in comparison with the reverse or clockwise direction, in this case. The reason is deemed so that the ring arm extending from the radial axis O-II, FIG. 1, to the interruption 17 is considerably shorter than the opposite one and thus the former arm is relatively rigid, thereby representing a higher rotational friction relative to the casing 14. On the contrary, the turning torque for rotational adjustment of the stud holder is considerably small, possibly on account of larger resiliency of the longer curved arm of the holder ring extending from the axis O--II to the opposite extremity of said elongate interruption 17.

In the present invention, the secondary projection is utilized for the turningly adjusting purpose of the stud holder. As seen, especially from FIG. 1 or 3, the manipulating projection 20 newly provided on the periphery of said longer arm and substantially in symmetry with said regulator pin 24 relative to the axis O-II, for obtaining two substantially equal length peripheral and resilient arms.

When the turning torques for either directional adjustment of the stud holder relative to the regulator be considerably different from each other, a desirous fine and smooth adjustment will be prevented, on account of possible sudden and larger rotational movement of the stud holder.

In the modified embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the aforementioned interruption 17 has been replaced by a peripheral recess 28, yet leaving a smallest gap 171:. Other constituents are similar in their design and function with those shown and described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, and, therefore, they have been designated by same reference numerals as before.

The turning adjustment of the stud holder by manipulating the said projection 20 can be easily carried out even when the related parts are of considerably miniature sizes adapted for fitting in a small size timepiece.

When it is desired to overhaul the hair spring 27 from its working position, the user may turn the positioner by means of a proper tool such as a screw driver in one or the another direction, thereby the positioner being receded from the working position as shown where the positioner cooperates with regulator pin 24 for retaining the hair spring in position.

Since the casing 14 of the shock proofing device acts as a resiliently pressure exerting means for positioning the adjustably turnable regulator and stud holder on the balance bridge and the latter two are of comp-act design ar ranged around the conventional reception opening for the shockproofing device thanks to the specific arrangement of regulator pin considerably nearer to the center 0 of the whole mechanism, the overall dimensions of the present regulator mechanism are highly smaller in comparison with those of the conventional comparative mechanisms, especially for smaller timepieces and without losing or reducing the effective function.

What I claim is:

1. A regulator mechanism for timepiece, comprising a balance wheel, a stationary balance bridge, a resilient casing containing therein a shockproof mechanism for the shaft of said balance wheel, a regulator mounted rotatably around said casing and mounting fixedly thereon a regulator pin adapted for adjusting the effective length of the hairspring of said balance wheel and a stud holder mounted again rotatably around said casing, wherein the improvement comprises that said regulator pin is positioned at least partially within the peripheral configuration of said stud holder.

2. A regulator mechanism as set forth in claim 1, wherein the improvement comprises that said regulator comprises upper ring of said ring portions and a projection extending outwardly from the related ring portion and made integral therewith, said projection being provided with the regulator pin for modifying the effective length of the hairspring of said balance wheel.

3. A regulator mechanism as set forth in claim 2, wherein the improvement comprises that said projection is fitted with an adjustably rotatable positioner which is adapted for cooperation with said regulator pin for retaining a part of the outermost convolution of the hairspring in its working position.

4. A regulator mechanism as set forth in claim 1, wherein the improvement comprises that the upper one of said ring portions is formed with an indicator notch for cooperation with a scale formed on said balance bridge, for showing the adjusted degree of the oscillating frequency of said balance wheel.

5. A regulator mechanism as set forth in claim 1, wherein the improvement comprises that the provision of a circumferential interruption or recess in the lower ring portion for allowing a movable range to said regulator pin.

6. A regulator mechanism as set forth in claim 5, wherein the improvement comprises that a mass compensating projection is formed on the periphery of said lower ring portion, for compensating dynamically the deficiency of mass by the provision of said interruption or recess, said projection being used, on the other hand, as manipulating means for the rotational adjustment of said stud holder.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,604,754 7/1952 Fauret 58-1l3 2,896,399 7/1959 Giroud 58-113 FOREIGN PATENTS 336,324 3/1959 Switzerland. 338,769 7/ 1959 Switzerland. 347,771 8/1960 Switzerland.

RICHARD B. WILKINSON, Primary Examiner. S. A. WAL, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. Cl. X.R. 5 81 09 

